The Siloam Springs School District's nine nurses have seen more than 18,700 individual cases so far this school year, according to Kathy Henson, director of nurses for the district.
Henson gave a report about the school's nursing department during the Feb. 11 school board meeting. It is part of a series of monthly reports about each of the district's classified departments.
The nursing department consists of six building nurses, one tube feeding nurse, one personal care nurse and the nursing director. Together, the nine nurses have a total of 217 years of experience in nursing and 76 years of experience in school nursing, Henson said.
The nurses care for more than 4,000 students at the district's seven campuses, including 1,600 students with health concerns and 239 students with disabilities. Health concerns include a range of conditions such as brain tumors, diabetes, seizures, broken bones, pregnancies, ADHD and asthma, Henson said. There is also a growing number of students with psychiatric illness, she said.
Nurses develop an individual care plan for each student with a health concern and together they administer almost 100 routine prescription medications each day. They also monitor vital signs for students who require regular monitoring, Henson said.
School nurses efficiently deal with emergencies and have only had to call the ambulance three times this school year, twice for teachers and once for a student, she said. Nurses also do the majority of the CPR training in the district for all staff and maintain records on each automatic external defibrillator.
The nurses are also responsible for monitoring each student's immunization records as they progress and making sure new students are up to date in immunization. Immunization regulations changed last year and each student must have a total of 18 vaccinations as they progress through the school district, Henson said. Nurses are also responsible for keeping records of students who have immunization exemptions, which must be renewed annually.
The district's nurses are currently working on state mandated body mass index and scoliosis screenings. So far they have screened 2,200 students for BMI and almost 500 students for scoliosis.
Last semester more than 2,000 students were screened for vision and hearing. Nurses were able to secure eye exams and glasses at no charge for a number of students thanks to several sources, such as the Roy Chesney Fund and the Brandon Burlsworth Foundation.
The nursing program has undergone several changes this year, Henson reported. Former nursing director Linda Brewer took a newly created position of personal care nurse. As personal care nurse, Brewer is responsible for all the required training of the 23 paraprofessionals. She develops care plans for all the district's fragile students and oversees the paraprofessionals that care for those students.
Henson, who had been the high school nurse, took the position of director of nurses. Terri Ellis, former Northside Elementary School nurse, moved to the high school, and Angie Kingfisher was hired to replace her. Nurse Lorie Sislo resigned from her position at Allen Elementary and Carrie Stock was hired to fill her position, Henson said.
"We have each chosen to work in a school because we have a deep compassion for children and believe that we can, and do, make a difference in the lives of the students that we serve," Henson said.
General News on 02/21/2016